title: A randomized trial of calorie labeling on menus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Food consumed outside the home accounts for a growing proportion of the North American diet and has been associated with increased obesity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effect of nutrition labeling on menus on awareness, use, and food consumption, including the impact of "traffic light" labeling and adding other nutrients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blinded, randomized trial with 635 Canadian adults conducted in 2010-2011. Participants ordered a free meal from one of four experimental menus: 1) no nutritional information shown, 2) calorie amounts only, 3) calorie amounts in "traffic lights", and 4) calorie, fat, sodium, and sugar shown in "traffic lights". Recall of nutrition information, knowledge of calorie content and nutrient consumption were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants in the calorie conditions were more likely to recall the calorie content of meals and to report using nutrition information when ordering. The calorie content of meals was not significantly different across conditions; however, calorie consumption was significantly lower among participants in the Calorie-only condition compared to the No information condition (mean=-96 kcal, p=.048).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Menu labeling increased awareness and use of nutrition information and reduced consumption. Adding "traffic lights", fat, sodium, and sugar amounts to menus had little impact compared to calorie-only labeling.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health & Health Systems, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. Electronic address: dhammond@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: Rhona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hanning
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Daniel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002755:Choice Behavior; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005515:Food Labeling; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009753:Nutritive Value; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D012147:Restaurants; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Diet; Food labeling; Health behavior; Nutrition policy; Obesity